


Once Upon A Time in Oz

by princessmombi31



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types, Once Upon a Time (TV), Return to Oz (1985), The Wizard Of Oz (1939), The Wizard of Oz & Related Fandoms, Wicked - Schwartz/Holzman
Genre: F/M, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-05
Updated: 2014-02-05
Packaged: 2018-01-11 06:51:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1169980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princessmombi31/pseuds/princessmombi31
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the Wizard of Oz from the point of view of the Gale, Diggs, Worley, and Gulch families. What happens when Rumplestiltskin, Captain Hook, and Dr. Whale go to Oz?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Once Upon A Time in Oz

It was April 1899,

Almira Gulch had invited her best friend Jean, Jean’s husband Dr. Joseph Worley, her brother in law James, and her sister in law Margaret to have tea with her at her house. Also at the party was a woman named Garnet Anderson, Amelia, the wife of the mayor of Ridgewood, and Danielle, who was the wife of the Mayor of Southgate.

All of them lived in Lee County, Kansas. Almira was the mayor of Black River Falls, which was in the Western part of the county. Dr. Worley’s father, Jeroboam, was in the mayor of Brockway, which was in the Northern part of the county. Ridgewood was in the Eastern part of the county, and Southgate was in the Southern part.

Almira was the daughter of Beauford Gulch, who, when he was 25 years old, had discovered a diamond mine in the town of Black River Falls. He bought the mine and became a fabulously wealthy man.

Joseph and his wife Jean ran an insane asylum in the city of Brockway. She had kept her maiden name. Joseph and Jean owned the Lower Falls Sanitorium and employed Joseph’s two youngest twin brothers Josiah and Jeremiah, their daughter Marigold as a nurse, and three other nurses whose names were Florence, Fantine, and Marianna.

Garnet’s sister Emily lived in the town of Black River Falls with her husband Henry Gale and their niece Dorothy.

Garnet, Almira, Jean, Amelia, Margaret, and Danielle were seated around a table in Almira’s prized garden sipping tea. All of their husbands were out hunting

"Ladies, I have good news!" Jean said with a smile on her face.

"What is it?" Danielle and Amelia asked.

"Well, as you know, J.B and I have been planning to teach other psychiatrists his new treatment that literally erases memories"

"Erases memories?! Jean you aren’t serious.." Amelia gasped.

"Oh but only magical ones that pose major problems in a person’s daily life or harm others. Our first student is arriving tomorrow."

"Jean, it has been 31 years since the invasion and I highly doubt that they are coming back."

Behind Almira, Jean could see Garnet’s niece Dorothy running down the street. The rose bush began to shake and tremble, and Jean could see Dorothy’s dog Toto digging around in the dirt. Jean quietly stood up, hoping that she could scare the little animal away before Almira caught sight of it.

But, Toto barked. Almira turned crimson, jumped out of her chair, and roared, “OOOOOHHHHH YOU MONSTER!” She grabbed her shovel, which she had apparently hidden in the shrub next to the garden table, and swung it high into the air.

"Almira, please!" Jean gasped as she tried to tear the shovel out of her friend’s grasp.

Dorothy quickly scooped her dog off the ground and ran away. “STAY OUT OF MY GARDEN YOU LITTLE VIPER!” Almira hollered.

"You really could have hurt the little girl." Jean said.

"What do you care? It’s not like your exactly friends with Henry and Emily either." Almira spat.

"Well, the girl can’t help who she was adopted by."

Garnet interjected, “Don’t blame me. My husband and I tried to adopt her when she was born. But, being as her father was Henry’s brother’s grandson, and I am not a blood relative, by law, she had to go to them.”

"I hate to think of that girl being raised with…her morals." Almira sneered.

Suddenly, a deafening crack echoed through the air accompanied by a blinding green flash of light. Jean could feel a very odd static electrical charge through the air. But as soon as the event happened, everything, except the electrical charge disappeared.

"What on earth was that?!" Danielle asked.

"Odd weather phenomena I presume." Jean lied. She had a dreadful suspicion what the electrical charge really was, but she dared not say it for risk of frightening the others.

"Are you so sure about that Jean? Last time we had something like that happen here was thirty one years ago.I remember that evening well. It was the happiest,saddest, and most terrifying evening of my entire life!" Almira stammered with audible fear in her voice.

Suddenly the tone of fear was lightened up by the sound of male voices cheering happily in the forest, which was a welcome diversion from what had just happened.

All of their husbands came walking out of the forest. J.B. was carrying a deer draped across his shoulders. “Hey! come look what J.B. caught!” James Worley yelled.

The ladies ran out to the little hunting party. “J.B. you never miss a shot. You’re the greatest hunter in the whole world!” Jean said to her husband. He blew off the barrel of his rifle, puffed out his chest, and said, “I know!” He continued, “How do you like the idea of me mounting the head of this beast on the wall of the waiting room of the hospital?”

"Well, I’m not too sure about that now." Jean said, not too keen on the idea of having a stag’s head mounted in her house.

"Dr. Worley, Dr. Worley!" One of Almira’s servants yelled, running towards them. "Yes?" the doctor asked.

"Your daughter Marigold is on the phone. She sounds very distraught." the servant said.

Dr. Worley and his wife glanced at each other nervously before running inside the house. Dr. Worley picked up the phone. His wife and the other women stood around him listening intently.

"Yes?" he asked. He jerked the receiver away, and the others could hear the voice of a young woman screaming on the other end of the line.

"Marigold darling, please try to calm down and talk normally. I can’t understand what you are saying." he said, now visibly worried.

A look of terror spread across his faced and he looked his wife right in the eyes. He spoke into the phone again.” Honey, just keep her at the hospital, and above all, don’t let her out for any reason at all! Your mother and I will leave right now and we will be there as soon as we can! Be nice to her, but keep her…keep her…contained!”

The doctor slammed the receiver back in the cradle. The silence that filled the room was deafening. J.B. took a deep breath and said, “Oz! A child from Oz has been sent to my hospital! By one of the Evil Ones.”

The women all gasped in unison. “Oh poor Marigold!” Garnet sighed.

"I will let you all know what happens, but Jean and I have to go investigate why she is here."

The two of them got into their carriage and rode off towards Brockway.

Back at the hospital, ten year old Jacob Worley and his cousin ten year old Olivia were being cared for by their oldest cousin, 30 year old Marigold Worley. Marigold was J.B. and Jean’s daughter, and Olivia was adopted by the two when she was a baby. Her parents had died of turberculosis. Jacob, Marigold, and all of the men in the Worley family had red hair, but olivia had platinum blonde hair.

Jacob loved spending his days off from school at Lower Falls. He was never allowed to go inside the hospital, which his aunt and uncle’s house was attached to, but neither was Olivia, who lived with them. Only patients, their families, and hospital staff were allowed to go in there. Marigold was not allowed to go in there until she was eighteen and decided to become a nurse herself. There were two rooms, however, which Marigold still could not enter on her own will. One was the cellar, which only her parents were allowed to go in, and the other was Jacob and Olivia’s “lair”, which was a sort of attic in the highest room in the tallest tower of the house.

Of course, the two did let adults enter when they asked nicely. Inside the lair was a massive ornate wardrobe, a table with papers strewn all over it, and in the center of the room sat a huge telescope, which pointed out a massive window. Books about fairytales and magic were strictly , make no mistake. These two children had as large, if not larger, of an imagination as any other child. A bookshelf was filled with books about planets, stars, dinosaurs, rocks, art, and biographies of famous inventors. Jacob had even won the school inventors fair and had advanced all the way to the National Inventors Fair every year since he was in first grade. He was only beaten out in 1898 by another third grade boy from Hill Valley, California named Emmett Brown who had come up with the idea of placing a flux capacitor on the back of a horseless carriage and traveled a full thirty minutes into the future. His uncle shared his passion for inventions and the two would work on projects together.

On this day, Olivia and Jacob were in the Lair trying out Jacob’s new solar telescope. Suddenly, a blinding light blazed fourth from the wardrobe, nearly blinding them. A blast resounded throughout the house with such a force that the house shook so badly that Jacob and Olivia were knocked to the floor and nearly all their books fell off the shelves.

As quickly as it happened, it was over. Bewildered, Jacob and Olivia stood up and looked around. Then, they heard a terrifying sound. The sound of someone in the wardrobe, crying. The crying became louder and louder. Finally, Jacob walked up to the wardrobe and asked, “Are you alright?”

"Who’s there?" The voice whimpered. Jacob could tell by the pitch that there was a girl in the wardrobe, which was very strange because he had just opened it moments before and no one was in there.

"Jacob and Olivia." Jacob said.

He decided to have pity on the poor person and unlocked the wardrobe. Much to his surprise, a beautiful little girl with long black hair was seated among the books and papers that had been knocked down during the blast. She was wearing a fancy green, white and gold dress, and no shoes. Her face was red, from crying and she was sobbing uncontrollably.

"Are you alright?" Jacob asked.

"N-No. The Wicked Witch sent me!" she whimpered.

Jacob’s eyes grew wide with amazement. “Witch?!” he gasped.

The girl cried even harder. “She said that she was going to send me somewhere really awful where my father would never find me!”

"Where did you come from?" Olivia asked.

"Oz. Where am I?" the girl said.

"Brockway, Kansas!" Jacob replied.

"Kansas! I’m in Kansas?" The girl shouted, seeming to cheer up just a little.

"Yes, but we don’t have any witches here."

"Do you know where the town of Black River Falls is? My grandma and grandpa live there!"

"Black river falls? That’s just the next town over, about half an hour from here!" Jacob gasped in delight.

"My name’s Jacob, and this is my cousin Olivia. What’s your name?" Jacob asked curiously.

"My name is Elsie Diggs, and my father is the ruler of Oz. They call him the Wizard of Oz!" the little girl said.

Just then, Elsie heard some more footsteps coming up a set of stairs. A door opened and a beautiful young woman with wavy red hair walked inside. “Oh, Elsie! This is my cousin Marigold!” Jacob said as he pointed to the young woman. Her mouth fell open, and her face grew white as snow upon sight of Elsie. “She is from Oz, and she came here in the blast!”

"The Wicked Witch of the East sent me here!"

The young woman seemed to turn faint with shock. Then, she turned and ran down the stairs.

"GET ME MY MOTHER!" Elsie hearde a woman’s voice scream.

Elsie and the two other children crept out of the lair to the indoor balcony, which overlooked a large living room.

"Yes father! This little girl was blasted into our house out of nowhere! She came through Jacob’s wardrobe. She says that she is from a place called Oz and a witch sent her!" Marigold babbled into a strange instrument which she held in her hand.

There was a pause, then she shrieked in terror, “DADDY THERE IS SOME GIRL HERE THAT SAYS THAT SHE IS FROM SOMEWHERE CALLED OZ AND WAS SENT HERE BY A EVIL WITCH!”

There was another pause, and Marigold took several deep breaths, apparently trying to calm down.

"That’s it daddy? Keep her contained?" Marigold said irritatedly. She pulled the strange instrument away from her ear. "UGH" she groaned loudly, before slamming the thing down on a table.

"I’m not scared of you!" Jacob whispered to Elsie. Just then, a door opened, and two identical twin men with red hair and very pale skin walked out. Both were wearing white smocks.

They gasped at the sight of Elsie. “Josiah i-is t-t-that?” One stuttered.

"No b-brother. I-it can’t b-b-b-be!" the other one stuttered back. Elsie could tell that they both suffered from terrible stuttering problems.

"Josiah, Jeremiah, you two take this girl and lock her in the hospital! Mother and father are on their way home!"

"Bu-but marigold! She-She’s just a l-little girl!" Jeremiah said.

They gasped at the sight of Elsie. “Josiah i-is t-t-that?” One stuttered.

"No b-brother. I-it can’t b-b-b-be!" the other one stuttered back. Elsie could tell that they both suffered from terrible stuttering problems.

"Josiah, Jeremiah, you two take this girl and lock her in the hospital! Mother and father are on their way home!"

"B-But Marigold!"

"Do as I said!" Marigold said tersely.

"Sh-she’s just-"

"That’s it! I’ll do it!" Marigold groaned. She grabbed Elsie’s wrist and drug her up the stairs. As Elsie was being pulled up the staircase, she couldn’t help but notice a family photo hanging on the wall. Several of the men, and one of the women looked strangely familiar to her, like some people that she had met in Oz many years before. Marigold opened the door, and pulled her into a long white hall. She opened the door to room 31, and nearly threw her in. She slammed the door shut and locked it. It was at this moment that Elsie broke down and started to cry.

Back out in the living room, a storm started to brew. Marigold walked through the door. She could see Jacob’s face flushing red with anger. “YOU!…YOU ARE NO FUN!YOU’RE JUST A BORING OLD GROWN UP LIKE AUNT JEAN,UNCLE JAMES, DADDY, AND EVERYONE ELSE AROUND HERE! SCARED TO DEATH OF EVERYTHING MAGIC! ” he hollered.

"JACOB!" she shouted back. She walked up to the little boy. "It’s not that I don’t like magic! We don’t know anything about this girl. How do I know that she wouldn’t try to hurt the two of you?"

Olivia said sweetly, “Well, you didn’t ask.”

Marigold was speechless for a moment. She continued, “Okay, Mom and Dad will be here in about half an hour, and if they think that she is safe to let go, they will let her go. Besides Nurse Florence, Nurse Fantine, and Nurse Marianna will take excellent care of her.”

In the hospital, Elsie sat in the room sobbing. Even though she was back in the United States, she missed her family. And she dreaded the thought of what the Witch of the East planned to do with her silver slippers. She was also completely struck by how much things had changed in Kansas since she left. Light was emitted by a strange glass object which hung from the ceiling, and what exactly was that thing that Marigold had used to tell her parents that she was there?

Oz Flashback:

The year was 1864, and ten year old Elsie Diggs laid on the floor of a prison cell in the evil witch Mombi’s castle, alone and frightened. She stood up and yelled, “Mom!”, but her mother, Jenny Diggs, did not answer. “Dad!” she cried, but her father, Oscar Diggs did not answer. The little girl began to sob. “You know…I’m rather disappointed in you.” a young man’s voice said. She turned and saw a handsome young man, who was very thin and dirty. He appeared to be around 18 years old.

"Do you know where they took my mom and dad?" she asked him.

"No, I just know that they’re all terrified of you, that’s all. The name’s Tim, and I am a slave here in the castle." the boy said.

"Isn’t everyone here in this country a slave of one of the four Wicked Witches?"

"Yeah, but we thought you and your family would fair differently." Tim replied.

"Well, I’m sorry, but we didn’t. I wanted to try, I really did!"

And boy did she ever. The day before, Elise, her father Oscar Diggs, and her mother Jenny had taken off for a balloon ride in a hot air balloon. He was the magician for the circus Barney and Bailum’s Great Consolidated Shows, and the circus just purchased a balloon, so he decided to take his family for a ride in it. The circus had stopped in New York City, and an odd wind blew the balloon out over the water. Oscar tried to turn the balloon around, but when he did, a strange light burst in the sky, and they found themselves floating over farmland.

When Oscar finally landed the balloon, the family quickly that they were no longer in the United States. As they were walking thorough a forest, they met several animals who could talk. The animals told the Diggs family that the strange country they were in was called Oz. All of them had seen the initials “O.Z.” painted on the balloon, and thought Oscar to be a descendant of the former King of Oz, Pastoria. They told him that four Wicked Witches had risen up against the king, overthrew him, and made all of the people of Oz their slaves, and they believed Oscar to be the one who would remove all of the witches from power and set things right in Oz. He was wearing his stage clothes, and when they saw that the color of his clothes were yellow, red, blue, and purple, they believed that he was the hero they had been waiting for. Yellow was the color of the Winkies in the western part of Oz. Blue was the color of the Munchkins in the East. Red was the color of the Quadlings in the South. Purple was the color of the Gillikins in the North.

He tried to explain to them that he wasn’t a real wizard, but they did not care. That evening, Elsie convinced her father to stay in Oz and help the people overthrow their wicked rulers.

Chapter 3: Return from Oz Part 3

Oz Flashback cont.

Elsie said to him, “Well, I’m sorry!”

She heard the sound of a door opening. A muscular bald man covered in scars walked in front of her cell. “Come on, Mombi needs ya ter mop er potion room!” he growled.

"I’m not going!" she grumbled.

"Believe me, if ya knew what’s good for ya, ya’d go willingly!" he snarled. He chased her to the back of the cell took out a pair of handcuffs, and handcuffed her to his wrist. She kicked and fought, but it did no good. He drug her out of the dungeon and up a set of stairs.

Elsie had been taken a prisoner of the witch Mombi, who, according to the other people and creatures she had met the day before, was the most powerful and evil creature in all of Oz. Her head began throbbing with pain.

He opened a door and the two walked inside. Elsie could see Mombi holding up a drawing of a dagger with the world Rumpelstiltskin written on it. Mombi had an beautiful, but evil looking, face. She had long brunette hair and brown eyes. Elsie hated the witch with all her heart.

Mombi turned and saw the two standing in the room. “Oh there you are.” she said. She folded up the paper and put it in a folder. Elsie was uncuffed.

"I’m…not…doing…anything…for you!" Elsie grumbled.

Mombi pointed at her, and Elsie could feel that she was trying to strangle her. This terrified the little girl. “You will if you know what’s good for you!” Mombi snarled. She released Elsie and Elsie could breathe again.

"Here is your mop and bucket." Mombi said as she pointed to a mop and bucked propped in a corner.

"Thank you Pete!" Mombi said calmly to the scarred man. Pete turned and walked out of the room, leaving the two alone.

"Where are my parents?" Elsie asked.

"Taken as prisoners by my friends. Not that that really matters to you" Mombi replied.

"But…why?" Elsie asked.

"Because we want your family as prisoners."

She picked a huge whip up off a table and pointed it at the girl. Unhappy, Elsie picked up the mop and began to mop the floor. It was at that moment that she began to very vaguely remember how she got to Mombi’s palace, and she realized that someone had drugged her during the night so that she would forget everything that the Oz people had told her about avoiding Mombi. She realized that she had become exactly like them, a prisoner of Mombi. Elsie grabbed the mop and began mopping the floor.

"You…you gave me something to make me forget everything that the Oz people told me about you, didn’t you?" Elsie asked.

"No, I did not." Mombi said. Elsie could tell by the tone of her voice that she wasn’t telling the truth, but she dared not to question her.

Elsie mopped the floor, and she could tell by the clock in the room that four hours passed before Mombi would let her quit mopping and go back to her cell.

Chapter 4: Return From Oz Part 4

In Kansas:

Elsie heard several feet walking down the hall.

"But you can’t sew!" she heard a woman yell from outside.

"Oh nonsense Marianna! Nowdays, people have machines to sew for them!" another woman yelled back.

Just then, the door opened, and a very thin gray haired woman wearing a black dress walked in. She had a cheerful face, and Elsie immediately cheered up when she walked in.

"Hello, dear! My name is Nurse Fantine. Would you like something to eat? It’s dinnertime!" she asked in a very sing-songy voice.

"No thank you miss. I’m not hungry." Elsie mumbled.

The nurse’s mouth dropped open in apparent shock. “Not hungry?” she said. Then, She smiled slyly and said,”Oh, well from the looks of your red face, I think that that really means that you are too sad to eat.”

"No…nothing’s wrong."

The nurse walked inside and shut the door behind her. “Are you sure about that? Nurse Marigold told me that you were sent here by some kind of witch, and that you aren’t going to see your parents again? You gave her quite a fright.”She asked.

"Yeah the Witch of the East sent me." Elsie mumbled.

"That sounds rather perplexing. None of the people who work at this hospital are bad. They are all very good. And they certainly don’t associate with witches! Why, I think that once the doctor and head nurse see you, that they will let you out of this hospital!"

"You really think so? I have a grandma and grandpa who live in Black River Falls!" Elsie said, cheering up a little.

"Why, I haven’t seen anyone who cooperated with the Doctor’s orders be forced to stay here any longer than necessary." Nurse Fantine said with a huge smile on her face.

"MAKE IT BLUE!" a woman screamed.

"PINK!" another yelled back. Suddenly, the door burst open and Elsie heard someone stomp down the hallway. A door slammed, and another woman yelled "NURSE FLORENCE AND NURSE MARIANNA WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!"

There was a soft knock on the door. Nurse Fantine opened the door. A red haired gentleman walked inside. A look of complete surprise came over his face.

"I’m from Oz sir, and I was sent here by the Wicked Witch of the East." she said. A look of alarm came over his face. "Elsie, this is Dr. Worley." Nurse Fantine said.

"Nice to meet you sir. Will you let me go back home to my family? I have a grandma and a grandpa in the next town over. " Elsie said. She heard feet stomping down the hall.

"You..said..a…witch sent you?" the doctor stammered. A woman burst through the door. She, like the other nurses, was wearing a black dress. Her dark brown hair was tied back in a bun.

"Why did the witch send you here?" she snarled.

"She wanted my silver shoes miss, and she couldn’t take them from me when I was alive, and if she killed me, their power would have broken."

"But, why here?" the woman persisted.

"I-I don’t know. She said that she was going to send me somewhere really awful, where my father wouldn’t find me. But, isn’t it odd that she sent me back to a place that is so close to my family?"

The man and woman glanced at each other. “Why don’t the three of us go sit somewhere more comfortable?” the man asked.

Elsie stood up. He and the brown haired nurse escorted her out of the room.

"What is your name?" the man asked.

"My name is Elsie Diggs." Elsie replied.

"I am Dr. Worley, and this is my wife Nurse Wilson." He said as he gestured to himself, then to the brown haired nurse. Elsie studied their faces for a moment, and felt that they looked very familiar to her, but she couldn’t remember who they were. One thing was for certain, she believed that she had seen them in Oz. The doctor opened the door, and Elsie heard the thunder of feet running up the stairs.

"You two! Stay in your rooms like you were told!" Nurse Wilson yelled.

"I’ll be back." she calmly said to the others. She walked off into another room.

"Come in here, Elsie." Dr. Worley said. He led her into a room that was off the living room. He sat in a chair at a large desk, and Elsie sat in a chair across from him.

"MOTHER DO YOU SERIOUSLY EXPECT THEM TO NOT BE CURIOUS ABOUT HER ?" Elsie heard Marigold yell from another room.

Elsie glanced at a calendar on the wall. The month read, April 1899.

"1899!" Elsie hollered in shock.

"Yes! We are at the turn of a new century, the twentieth century!"

Elsie felt her heart sink in her chest. “But..when I left America, it was 1864!” she whimpered.

Queen Lurine had made Oz a fairyland shortly after her arrival, and as a result, she hadn’t aged. “Are my grandparents, Andrea and William Erickson still alive? They are my mother’s parents.” she asked.

"Yes, they are. So is your uncle Emmanuel Diggs, who has stopped in for the week!" The doctor said with a smile on his face.

Elsie felt a huge weight lifted off her shoulders. And she was very excited to see her uncle Emmanuel again.

"Now, tell me all about what has happened to you."

Chapter 5: DECEMBER 17 BIG UPDATE!

So… I hear that they are doing Oz on the real series! Yay! I am planning on introducing Storybrooke into my series around the time that the midseason premiere airs, so lets see if I can incorporate what they are doing in the real series into my story!

I’ve been wanting to see a ONCE UPON A TIME IN OZ story for a long time now, and I have been working on this in various forms since March of 2013. Don’t know if the “real” version will have characters from all the books and the GOOD versions of Oz, (Return to Oz and 1939 film) but mine does and always has.

Chapter 6: Return from Oz Part 5

Judging from Marigold’s reaction, Elsie wondered if she had allowed the two to try to see her.

"Now, tell me all about what has happened to you." the doctor said.

He took out a pad of paper and a pencil.

"Well, I will start with the most recent. I was in munchkinland visiting my friends Nick Chopper and Captain Fyter. Munchkinland is ruled by the Wicked Witch of the East in Oz. When the Witch saw me she took some of the charm off my shoes so that she could trap me in her castle. But, she couldn’t take my shoes off while she was still alive. Then, she figured out that if I was still alive, she could send me out of Oz, and since I was still living, the shoes would still keep their charm." Elsie replied.

"And those shoes…how did they work?" the doctor asked.

"I am not exactly sure sir. Queen Lurine of the fairies gave them to me years ago, and I still don’t know exactly what they are capable of. She gave them to me to protect me from the witches."

She continued, “But now, I will tell you all about Oz. My mom, dad, and I were blown there in a balloon one day. At the time, it was ruled by four wicked witches. Mombi, the Witch of the North, ruled Gillikin Country. Schartzmugel, the Witch of the West, ruled Winkieland. Brunhilde, the witch of the South, ruled Quadling Country. Gertrude, the Witch of the East, ruled Munchkin Country. I, and the two good witches, Violet and Glinda, conquered Mombi in the conquered Brunhilde in the south. My father conquered the King of Oz, Francis, in Ozcot by accidentally giving him water from the Fountain of Oblivion. Francis was wicked, but didn’t have any magic, and was much easier to conquer than the witches.”

Just then, the door opened and Nurse Wilson walked inside.

"Elsie, your grandmother is on the phone here. Would you like to talk to her?" she asked.

"I can talk to my grandmother?" Elsie piped.

"Most certainly!"

Elsie ran to the nurse, and she led her to the strange object that she had seen Marigold talking into.

"Put this end up to your ear and this end up to your mouth." The nurse instructed.

Elsie took the phone from her. “GRANDMA?” she yelled into the phone, having no idea how such an object worked.

"You don’t have to yell, she can hear you!" the nurse laughed.

"Elsie! Oh dear, is it really you?" her grandmother asked.

"It’s me grandma! I’ve been in Oz!" she replied in a normal speaking tone.

"Oz?"  
"Grandma! It’s been so long!"  
"I am so happy to hear your voice!"

Elsie could smell delicious smells wafting in from the kitchen. She looked out the window and saw that it was getting dark outside. The doctor and nurse walked out of the room.

"The Nurse tells me that I can come get you in the morning." Elsie’s grandmother said. The two talked all about Oz for an hour until Marigold had prepared supper. Elsie was terribly hungry.

"Elsie, come eat!" Nurse Wilson said.

Elsie sat at the table. Jacob and Olivia sat on either side of her.

Dr. Worley said, “My wife and I have been talking. We believe that you should stay in one of our guest bedrooms in the house tonight, not the hospital, and your family will be arriving in the morning to pick you up.”

Chapter 7: Return from Oz part 6

"But, your grandmother and my wife were talking over the phone, and we feel that you should come for counseling for one hour everyday after school. This is just to help you adjust to normal life again." the Dr. said.

"What’s counseling?" Elsie asked.

"I talk to patients and I give them coping methods for helping them to overcome any bad experiences in their life."

"But why is there a hospital for that?” Elsie asked. The question made Jacob and Olivia giggle.

The doctor laughed. “Oh, Elsie,you don’t need to stay there! That’s where people who suffer from delusions and hallucinations caused by excess electrical currents and chemical imbalances of the brain stay while they are either receiving medicine or having surgery.” he said.

"Oh." she replied.

"Elsie, can you tell me all about Oz?" Jacob asked.

Both of the orderlies, Josiah and Jeremiah, were eating with them. Josiah interjected, “Jacob, why don’t you tell Aunt Jean and Uncle J.B. who is going to be presenting at the inventor’s fair?” Jacob’s face lit up. “I have to run to my room and get the events catalogue that came in the mail!” He charged out of the room. “And bring the rest of the mail too while you’re at it.” Josiah called after him.

"Now we’re in for a long and boring talk about progress." Olivia moaned. Elsie didn’t know what progress was, but she could tell from the tone of Olivia’s voice that it was a terribly boring thing to talk about.

Jacob ran back into the room “EDISON AND TESLA ARE PRESENTING AT THE NATIONAL INVENTOR’S FAIR AND I’M GOING TO MEET THEM!” he yelled. “Edison and Tesla?!” Dr. Worley asked excitedly. Jacob sat back down in his chair and plopped the magazine on the table next to Elsie. “Oh, Uncle J. B., this is for you!” he said as he handed an envelope with the words, “Weltmer Institute of Suggestive Therapeutics.” written on it.

Nurse Wilson turned crimson with fury, shot out of her seat, and snatched the letter away from Jacob. “What?” he asked as she walked away, but she did not answer.

"Mother doesn’t approve of Weltmer method. All of father’s doctor colleagues are learning it, but she thinks that it’s the devil’s work." Marigold mumbled.

"Devil’s work?!" Elsie shrieked.

"Hypnosis, faith healing, and stuff like that." Marigold whispered.

"There, it is gone. I won’t be having any more letters about that place coming into this house! Satan’s tools under the guise of Christianity, I won’t have it! Only prayer, the Bible and the real college medical training that you, Marigold, and I have received will be used to heal the patients, not quackery!" Nurse wilson shouted as she sat back down at the table.

"Uh, why don’t we get back to talking about the inventor’s fair?" Marigold interjected.

Jacob flipped to a page where black and white pictures and biographies of the presenters were shown. “Those paintings are awfully realistic.” Elsie said, observing the pictures of the presenters. “Those aren’t paintings, those are photographs!” Jacob said. He puffed his chest out and said, “I won second place last year! I only lost to Emmett Browne. He came up with the terribly cool idea of putting a flux capacitor on the back of a horseless carriage, and he traveled a whole half hour into the future! But I’ve come up with something that’s even better! A rocket that holds a dog, and carries it safely back to earth!”

"Really?" Elsie gasped in amazement.

"Really!"

"My father invented something that’s kind of like a telephone, but it doesn’t have any wires like a phone does. It’s a hand held communicator." She took out a small green object and showed it to him. "It’s not working now, after the witch cursed me. I tried to use it to call my father when I was stuck in the wardrobe, but it didn’t work."

"That’s so cool!" Jacob gasped. "Can I look at it?" he asked. She handed it to him. "This is so much better than a phone! It’s more like…the future of the phone!" he said with audible excitement in his voice.

"Is this progress?" Elsie asked. "Yes! And this phone is the pinnacle of progress!" Jacob said.

Well, if Olivia thinks that this is boring, what even more exciting things does this family talk about? Elsie wondered. After all, she was having a wonderful time talking about progress.

Chapter 8: Return from Oz part 7

Elsie took a bite of her meatloaf, and said, “This is absolutely delicious!” Nurse Wilson turned pink and said, “Why thank you!”

Marigold smiled and said, “Mother absolutely can’t stand for anyone to cook better than she!”

Suddenly, a loud ring came from the telephone. “I’ll get that.” Nurse Wilson said. She leapt out of her seat and walked out into the hall.

"Oh, Hi Almira! Oh I am sooo sorry that I didn’t call you. Something came up."

"She’ll be forever!" Dr. Worley whispered to himself. He pulled a magazine out from under the table. "Ooh! Aunt Jean doesn’t like it when you read at the table!" Jacob said.

"I want to show you something that we are getting here at the hospital!" J.B. said.

"Well, I’m so glad to hear that all of the miners are alright." Nurse Wilson said in the other room.

Dr. Worley flipped open the magazine to page 27, which showed some kind of odd device. He yelled, “There, now that’s progress!” and slapped his hand on the table. When he did, the magazine flipped to page 26, which had a page sized advertisement for a medical potty chair. Olivia roared with laughter. “There’s girls here!” Jacob mumbled as he turned three shades of crimson. He quietly flipped the page back, and Olivia laughed so hard that Elsie thought she was going to fall off her chair.

"This thing here, it’s called an X-ray machine. We are getting one next week in the office. Now, look! The X ray takes a photograph of bones!"

"That’s interesting!" Elsie said.

Nurse Wilson said, “Hold on Almira.” She yelled, “J.B., put away the Victor Electric catalogue that you got in the mail today!”

"Ugh! How does she know!" He growled as he walked out of the room. He returned without it.

Chapter 9: Return From Oz Part 8

"Can you tell us all about the witches in Oz?" Olivia asked.

"Olivia, we don’t talk about witches in this house" Nurse Wilson snapped.

"You don’t ever want to meet one." Elsie mumbled. She piped, "I’d rather talk about progress! It’s safer and more fun than talking about witches."

Elsie, quite frankly didn’t want to go back to Oz. She missed her parents, but did not want to go back. There was always a threat of an evil witch, and Elsie, being the daughter of the Wizard, was always on their list of people to capture and destroy. And, unlike in most stories, the bad witches did not always loose battles. And, she missed the company of children her own age.

"Can Elsie come and see my new telescope?" Jacob asked.

"After she has her session with me, she can come and see your telescope. On the condition that you two don’t ask her anything about Oz." Dr. Worley said.

Nurse Wilson said, ” You two know what the bible says about witches, right? That they should be stoned to death! Well, there’s a reason why!”

Jacob’s turned downcast. “Yeah.” he moaned.

"YOU AREN’T GOING TO STONE ELSIE ARE YOU?" Olivia shrieked.

A look of utter shock spread across Nurse Wilson’s face. “Heavens no!” she gasped.

"Oh mother, that was in the Old Testament, not the New."Marigold growled.

"Marigold, don’t talk back to your mother." Dr. Worley said. She only glared at him.

When the dinner was over, Marigold took Jacob and Olivia up to Jacob’s lair. “I’ll be back in just a minute.” she said. She stepped outside, and walked over to a vase of dead wildflowers that was sitting in the window. After her mother and father had arrived home earlier that day, she stormed outside in anger when they would not explain to her what was going on between them and Elsie. When she let out her anger by screaming, a nearby plant suddenly burst fourth in bloom. Curious, she picked up the vase, and when she did, the flower’s stems suddenly began to turn green again. She took the vase of dead flowers back up into Jacob’s lair.

"Look, I am extremely upset about this Oz thing too, and I think that mother and father are definitely hiding something from us." she snapped. "I want to show you something, but promise me that you won’t yell." she said.

The other two nodded their heads furiously.

She blew on the dead stems, and suddenly, they burst forth into magnificent bloom. Olivia and Jacob gasped in amazement. “How’d you do that?!” Jacob shrieked, but not so loud that he could be heard all the way down in his uncle’s office.

"Well, I don’t know. I just discovered that I had such a talent when that witch sent Elsie to us. Personally, I think that they know something that we don’t. I will go downstairs and listen quietly to see what I can hear."

She turned and started walking down the stairs. She turned and said, “Oh, and please don’t tell anyone at all about my talent.”

Marigold walked to the door and placed her ear to it.

She could hear Elsie say, “She had an army of these…creatures.”

"Go on." Dr. Worley said.

Marigold heard the sound of a child crying. “I can’t! It’s too horrible!” Elsie whined.

"It’s a recurrent dream I have…and it’s about the most terrifying day of my life!" She suddenly broke into massive sobs.

Marigold began to debate going back upstairs. “Marigold what are you doing?” She heard a man’s voice say. She jumped, startled. She turned and saw her uncle Jeremiah walking towards her. “I- I was just.” she stammered.

"Didn’t you hear what your parents said?" he said.

Nurse Wilson opened the door, and closed it behind her. She closed her eyes in exasperation at the sight of Marigold.

"Marigold, come with me. I’m not mad at you, just come with me." she said.

The two walked out into the hospital garden. “I’m sorry mother, but I really think that Jacob, Olivia, and I should have a good explanation as to why you, father, and everyone else here is acting so odd about this little girl who has come from Oz!” Marigold said.

"Marigold, you’re right. We do owe you an explanation. But there is very little that I can tell you right now. There is a reason why your father and I taught you to hate all magical things. All I can tell you is this, that we might be in real danger as a result of this event. There is something in the air that tells me that there is magic here, whereas there wasn’t before. The witch did something to bring magic to Kansas, and it’s not good. But, that’s all I can tell you for now. I will tell you more in the days and weeks to come if real danger comes to us, but for now, lets go on about normal life as usual."

Marigold paused. “You really are scared that something bad is going to happen aren’t you. And…has anything happened to our family as a result of magic?”

"Yes…many terrible things, which is why none of us have wanted you, Jacob, Olivia, and the other children to believe in it. In fact, it’s the very reason why your father invented a procedure to make people forget terrible things that happen to them.”

"But…are all witches bad? I’m asking because I seem to have developed a talent to revive dead plants." Marigold asked.

"No. The ones who are good are very, very good."

"What should I tell Jacob and Olivia?" Marigold asked.

"You tell them that when your father and I are done with Elsie, that we will talk to them as I have talked to you just now."

Chapter 10: Return From Oz Part 9

Nurse Wilson walked upstairs and said to Jacob and Olivia, “Now, I will allow Elsie to talk to you two about Oz on one condition: You don’t ask her about the witches. Understood? She will tell you what she wants to tell you. Don’t pester her.”

"Cross my heart! But why did you change your mind?" Jacob squealed happily.

"Well, I’ve had a change of heart. Sometimes that happens when a person gets over an initial shock. You two did see her just appear out of nowhere in a horrible blast.” Nurse Wilson said.

"Oh thank you Jean!" Olivia squealed as she embraced her older cousin.

"And we can tell her all about Marigold making the dead flowers-" Jacob began.

"YOU WILL TELL HER NOTHING ABOUT MARIGOLD!" Nurse Wilson snapped.

"I told her about the flowers." Marigold confessed to Jacob and Olivia.

Nurse Wilson disappeared out of the room.

"Good! Now we can talk to her about Oz, and not get interrupted every two seconds by grown ups trying to change the subject!" Olivia said.

Jacob’s face turned pink. “Well, she liked talking about inventions.” he said.

An hour later, Elsie was finished with her session. Even though she thought that Dr. Worley and Nurse Wilson seemed like nice people, she was still suspicious that the witch had sent her there for a reason.

Oz Flashback:

Elsie sat in her cell sobbing. Suddenly, Tim appeared in front of her cell. “Do you have any sort of magic at all?” he asked.

"I don’t think so. Not real magic like the witches anyway." Elsie sobbed.

"I’ve heard that your father is supposed to be a very talented magician."

"He was a ventriloquist."

"What is that?"

"Where a person throws their voice so that it sounds like it’s coming from somewhere else."

Tim’s eyes suddenly grew wide. “Elsie! That’s it! That’s how you are going to get out of here! Look!” He hissed. He took out folded up piece of paper and unfolded it. It read, “Magic Tournament! Winner gets to become the most powerful witch or wizard of all! All can enter!”

"What does that mean?" Elsie asked.

"Well, there is a person in Oz who all of the wicked witches refer to as ‘the dark one’, and the witches now have access to his whereabouts. They’ve decided to try to have a tournament to kill each other so that only the winner can go out in search for him." Tin said.

"How’d they find him?" Elsie asked.

"Well, there is a history book called the History Book of Oz, and when their friend Lord Googly Goo paid a pirate to help him go somewhere, they found the Dark One’s whereabouts in the history book. Apparently, he has concealed himself within a cloaking spell, but has made some exception for the pirate. The pirate doesn’t know he is here." Tim said.

He continued, “Wicked Witches cannot be killed, only destroyed, which is as good as dead. From what I have heard, they drink a potion to make themselves immortal. But, there is a loophole so that they can loose their powers, and apparently only Blinkie, their teacher, knows what it is.”

"And do you think that my being able to throw my voice is going to help in that?" Elsie asked.

"The witches fear your father for a reason. Certainly, you can think of a way to defeat them."

"But what if there is no real reason for them to be afraid of him?! What if it’s only a coincidence that his initials line up with the person you are looking for?" she whimpered.

"It’s worth a try, isn’t it?" Tim asked.

Kansas:

Nurse Wilson took Elsie up the stairs to Jacob’s “lair” and left her with the two children. Marigold bade goodbye to everyone and walked back to her house.

"Can you tell us about Oz?" Olivia asked.

Elsie said, “Oz was for the most part a very wonderful country, but I really miss America. My father promised me that if he could find someone to rule in his place that we would come home to Kansas. We lived there for so many years, and there was always a threat of the Wicked Witches trying to enslave everyone. I made lots of friends, but not with hardly anyone my own age. When my father became the Wizard of Oz, and ruled in the former king’s place, he had to maintain a presence that could frighten the witches, so only a few people ever saw him. I had private tutors instead of going to school, because I was always helping him fight off some witch, and would have fallen behind on my studies if i went to regular school.”

She continued, “When I got to Oz, my family and I were all taken prisoners by the Wicked Witches. My mother went to The Witch of the South, and I went to the North to be a prisoner of Mombi, who was at that time the most powerful witch in Oz. She and Lord Googly Goo tricked a pirate named Captain Hook from another world into helping them kidnap us because when Lord Googly Goo was on Captain Hook’s ship, The Jolly Rodger, noticed that the Dark One’s name, which was Rumplestiltskin, started appearing in a book which recorded every event in Oz. Apparently Rumplestiltskin wanted Captain Hook to find him or something.”

Elsie noticed that Jacob and Olivia were staring at her with their mouths opened in amazement as she was telling her story.

She continued, “And, once the Wicked Witches figured out where the Dark One was, they decided to have a tournament to destroy each other, and the winner would go out in search of the Dark One. Anyone could enter. I became good friends with a young man named Tim, and he encouraged me to enter. Mombi destroyed all of the other witches who went up against her, and I was the last contestant. Sure enough, I did something that she did not expect, and she lost all of her power!”

Jacob gasped, “You are the coolest person who I have ever met!”

" You mean, the only cool person! Everyone else in Brockway hates magic.” Olivia said with a smile on her face.

"Well, I met lots of cool people in Oz, and if I get to go back there, I’m going to take the two of you with me to meet them. After I defeated Mombi, I met a good witch named Glinda and her grandmother Violet, and another good witch from a country that got destroyed. And I also met fairies from the sky and ground fairies called Nomes!"

The three of them played together and talked about Oz and inventions until Jacob’s aunt came into the room at 11:00 to tell them all that it was time for bed. Elsie was so incredibly happy to finally play with and be an ordinary child again that she didn’t fall asleep until 3 a.m.


End file.
